Here's Why PETA Wanted to Put Up a Tombstone for Some Chickens

These chickens weren’t crossing—well, driving down—the road for any reason they would have been thrilled about: The birds were headed for slaughter last month when the truck transporting them overturned on U.S. Route 129 outside Gainesville, Ga.

While neither of the drivers involved in the accident was injured, a number of the chickens died in the crash. To honor their deaths, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked the Georgia Department of Transportation to erect a 10-foot-tall gravestone along the side of the highway. The proposed memorial, which GDOT shot down, would have read, “In memory of the dozens of terrified chickens who died as a result of a truck crash.”

"Chickens suffer from the time they're babies, when they have their sensitive beaks cut off with a searing-hot blade. Our proposed statue would bring this suffering to the public's attention and would encourage people to stop eating chickens," Lindsay Rajt, PETA’s associate director of campaigns, said in a statement. "At the very least, it would remind motorists to be more alert and help prevent future terrifying crashes."

We’ll just leave that there for you to consider, because like the butchers at Publican pointed out, it doesn’t seem like there’s all that much to be gained from making fun of PETA. But let’s just say that the approach those highly aware meat eaters took to discussing the ethics of eating animals is more effective than a roadside stunt.

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TakePart is the digital news and lifestyle magazine from Participant Media, the company behind such acclaimed documentaries as CITIZENFOUR, An Inconvenient Truth and Food, Inc. and feature films including Lincoln and Spotlight.